Ecclesia Anglicana Conference of September 2020: Cooking Anglican ecclesiology in a Kenyan Pot?

Abstract

A research Paper Published in Jumuga Journal of Education, Oral Studies, and Human Sciences (JJEOSHS

Asthe first wave of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19)was beingexperienced in Kenya since 13 March 2020,when a 27-year-old Kenyan woman became the first person to be diagnosed with it, some Anglicans in Kenya were contrariwiseovercomingthe shock,that went with it, as they undertook nobleintellectual activities. As numbers went on soaring,andassome celebrated artists, scholars, clerics, and other cadres of society became early casualtiesof Covid-19, an Ecclesia Anglicanawas boldly entering the ecclesiastical market-place with new rhythms hitherto unknown in Kenya’s historiography. In other words, atheo-ecclesial creativity was cooking inan African pot, and cooking well from the nethermost depths of the Ocean floor, rather than from thetopstratums. While the revolutionary trigger was set on 6 August 2017, it had to await the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 before it pickedupits momentum. Put it differently, the momentumpickedup astoundingly during Kenya’s Covid-19 lockdown,as two major conferences were successfully held during this chillingmoment. The first major webinars’conference was held on 26 August 2020;while the second one was held on 16 September 2020. Characteristically, the two conferences made a bold attempt at understandingthe Anglican ecclesiology by cooking it from the local resourcesand spiced itupthrough the modern science and technology. Was it a protest against theo-intellectual lockdowncutting across the continent, a phenomenon where a casual observation shows that social and ecclesial leadership has largely attractedthe less intellectually-inclined sons and daughters of the land? Methodologically, this article seeks to explore, and indeed make a survey of Ecclesia Anglicanaand attempt to understand it beyondthe founders’perspectives, after interviews with some of them, and make an informed analysis. Second, this article will attempt to show how Ecclesia Anglicanais usheringina new rhythm,as it beats the drums of science and technology, modern communicationand social mediaplatforms,and hopefullychange the status quo for the better. It appears that nothing will slow down this rapid tempo; for if the pandemic has not, what else can do so?Third, the article will focus more on the 16 September 2020 webinar conference which, in my view, was the most climactic moment for Ecclesia Anglicanasince 2017 when the idea was mooted and subsequently released to the public squarefor broaderconsumption.Will Ecclesia Anglicanahelp in buildinga more informed and/oran intellectually engaging Kenyan Anglican society?